Into the Darkness (33 page)

tip her jaw closed.

“Now that’s not somethin’ you see everyday,” Rene said,

his voice awed.

Chessa turned and caught his fierce frown. “So, what do

you think about our girl. She’s all grown up.”

“That’s the difference, isn’t it?” he said. “Between you and

the poor bastards you turn.”

“It’s the most . . . noticeable.”

He was silent for a long moment, his gaze following the

long, graceful length of Natalie’s wings. Finally, he drew a

breath. “They gonna pop out like that every time we have

sex?”

Chessa laughed, relieved he seemed to be taking the trans-286

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formation in stride. “Natalie can repress that urge, same as

she has her need to feed while she fucks you.”

Their gazes slid back to Natalie, who stared transfixed at

the mirror above the dresser. The glass reflected light onto

the wings that spread far beyond the width of the bed. The

same pale color of her skin, they shone with the sheen of soft,

short velvet that covered the thin membrane stretched between the cartilages forming the boning of her wings.

Rene ran his hand over the bottom edge of one of them.

“I’ve stopped bein’ surprised, I guess. Day before yesterday, I

think I’d have had a lot more to say.” His head swiveled back

to Chessa. “Can she fly?”

Chessa snorted. “What do you think?”

His forehead furrowed deeper. “Damn, Chessa. What the

hell you need to ride in squad car for?”

Chessa grinned and lifted her eyebrows. “Can you put them

away by yourself ?” Chessa directed the question to Natalie

who still stared at herself in the mirror.

Finally, the younger woman turned, her expression still

wide-eyed with shock. “Can I?”

“Give it a try.”

Natalie closed her eyes and frowned as she concentrated.

Her wings folded fluidly and withdrew into their pouches,

the seams appearing to melt away.

“Guess that answers that,” Rene said.

The whine of the wind against the shutters and the hum

of the air conditioner were the only sounds in the room for

several seconds.

Then Natalie rose . . . and fell, and came up again. Her

jaw firmed and her lips thinned. Triumph, power fueled her

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movements as she took Rene, her chest rising and falling with

her steady breaths and movements.

Chessa’s breath caught as she watched Natalie and realized

the scared young woman who’d cowered from a flock of birds

was gone. She’d been reborn, finding herself and the answers to

most of her questions within the cycle set by a rising moon and

a curse that controlled the appetites and fates of all the Born.

While the couple continued to ebb and flow against each

other, Chessa shoved off the bed and headed toward the

shower.

In Natalie’s face, she’d seen a glimpse of her own past and

felt closer to the child she’d lost so many years ago. She quietly shut the door behind her, sat on the closed toilet seat and

wept.

When the bathroom door opened, Natalie glanced up at

Chessa and noted her features appeared drawn.

Worried, she opened her mouth to speak, but Chessa shook

her head and raised a finger to her lips.

Natalie looked back at the bed. Rene was asleep and not

likely to wake any time soon—the dark purple smudges beneath his eyes indicative of his exhaustion.

She followed Chessa’s silent lead, dressing swiftly in jeans

and long-sleeved shirt. She hadn’t thought the rumblings in

her belly were so loud they’d given away her hunger, but perhaps Chessa was hungry too.

They let themselves out the door and headed toward the

elevator.

“Are we going back to the bar?” Natalie asked, trying to

resist the itching at the roof of her mouth that urged her to

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let down her teeth. The thought of a meal already had her

salivating.

“No way we can get anywhere in a car—the road’s swamped.

Rene and I barely made it here. But there’s a bar in the hotel.”

Chessa flashed her a smile. “You game?”

“Find a dark corner to feed?”

“One of us play look-out?”

Grinning, Natalie’s steps were light as she headed to the elevator. She liked the sense of connection she felt with Chessa.

Finishing each other’s thoughts. They’d even worked Rene

like a tag team until he’d cried “uncle” from too much use

and slept.

The patter of some small creature trailed behind them, and

Natalie glanced over her shoulder. A rat sat on its haunches in

a door well, its nose quivering as it sniffed the air.

She grimaced. “Yuck! Rats!”

“Probably driven off the streets by the storm. Filthy bastards,” Chessa said, reaching for the down button.

The doors slid open, and Natalie stepped inside beside

Chessa, turning to face the entrance. As the doors closed, she

saw three rats in a line heading their way.

She shivered as the doors cut off the view.

Chessa’s eyebrows drew into a frown. “We’ll talk to the

desk clerk after we feed. They should set some traps.”

The bar was dark and packed. It seemed every guest in the

hotel, except Rene, had decided to ride out the storm in the

lounge. Pictures of men leaning into the driving rain played

on CNN while glasses clinked and laughter rang out. Music

played from an old-fashioned jukebox in the corner, and a couple circled on the small square, parquet dance floor.

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“Pick one,” Chessa said, “I’ll find us a dark booth.”

Natalie drew a deep breath and peered around the crowd

at the bar for a target. Someone young. Someone stupid.

And clean. The Arno’s of the world were only meant as last

resorts.

She trailed behind the men, scenting each, recoiling at

heavy cologne or cigarette smoke.

One man caught her looking his way. “Can I buy you a

drink?”

Not bad. Mid thirties, blond hair cut short and trimmed

neatly around his ears. He wore a yellow polo shirt and blue

jeans. Nice laugh lines crinkled around his eyes as his smile

deepened at her perusal.

If he only knew what she really wanted.

“I’m with a friend,” she said, leaning close to speak softly

into his neatly turned ears.

“Shall I join you?”

It was so easy. She led him away from the lighted bar, into

the corner booth where Chessa waited. He slid around the

seat, appearing happy to be sandwiched between the two of

them.

His interested gaze took in Chessa’s intense expression and

his chest rose.

He probably thought this was his lucky night. But it was

theirs. He lifted his hand to snag a waitress’s attention and

ordered a round of drinks.

Natalie looked around the bar. No one paid them any attention. Laughter burst again from across the room. Everyone was in high spirits. Snug and dry while the storm swirled

around them. She let the warmth of the man’s thigh pressed

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against hers and the heated aroma of his skin seduce her teeth

into lengthening.

Chessa gave her a little nod, and they both leaned into

him.

His breath snagged. “Sure we want to keep the party here?”

he asked.

“No one’s watching,” Natalie said, gliding her fingers up

his thigh while Chessa distracted him with a little innocent

nibble at his ear lobe.

Suddenly, Chessa jerked away and unsnapped her cell

phone case which hung on her belt. “Back in a minute,” she

said. “I have to take this.” As she walked away with the receiver to her ear, shouts erupted at the bar, drawing Natalie’s

attention.

Some patrons lifted their feet from the floor. Drinks spilled

on the counter top as others lurched away.

“What the hell’s happening over there?” the man seated

next to her exclaimed.

That’s when she heard it. Squeaks. The patter of feet. Tiny

rodents’ feet. Dozens of them. All heading her way.

Natalie brought her legs up onto the bench seat and then

crawled onto the table. The blond man crawled over the back

of the seat, escaping the first creatures that jumped to where

she’d been seated.

Natalie stared, transfixed. Their eyes glowed red and the

acrid smell of rotten eggs and rat shit filled the space around

her, sucking the air from her lungs.

When the first one leaped to the table beside her, a feeling of inevitability, surrender, filled her limbs with leaden

weight. They crowded around her, climbed onto her lap. The

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first little bite roused her, causing her to cry out, and she

backhanded the creature, sending it slamming against the

wall.

But just as quickly as they swarmed her, they moved on,

like a wave lapping at her knees, crowding her with their little

furry bodies, and then ebbing away.

It was over—so fast she didn’t really have a chance to wonder what it all meant. An exit door had been pried open and

the rats filled the doorway as they raced outside.

Natalie trembled as raucous shouts continued, mostly directed at the establishment. Behind her she heard footsteps.

A hand clamped around her wrist.

When she raised her head, she was staring into Fernando’s

dark face.

chapter

20

et me help you,” he said, extending his

“Lhand, palm up.

She didn’t want to touch him. From his intent

stare, she knew his presence here wasn’t a coincidence. She decided to brazen it out and gave him

her hand.

After she clambered off the table, she tried to

pull away her hand, but his grip tightened. He

tugged her closer, drawing her in like a fish on a

reel, turning her until her back was flush with his

belly and chest. Although lean, she could feel the

tensile strength of every muscle pressed close to

her.

She swallowed and glanced wildly around for

Chessa, but didn’t see her in the agitated crowd.

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“You can still catch your friends,” she said, glaring at him

over her shoulder. “They just went out the door.”

His smile was slow, amused. But it didn’t quite reach his

eyes. “I hoped you weren’t the one we sought.” His hand

crept up to cup her breast and thumbed her nipple through

her shirt. He pressed his cheek to hers and whispered, “I’d so

much rather make love to you.”

Natalie bit back a moan. Not of desire. Her heart raced,

her skin broke out in cold sweat. She’d arrived at her moment

of reckoning.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to slow her

breaths and recapture her calm. “Are you the one who’s been

stalking me?”

His cheek rubbed hers. “The one? No, love. We are many.”

Revulsion rose up and she tried to strain away from him. “I

don’t understand why.”

“I’d love to take the time to explain it to you, but in the

end it really doesn’t matter, does it?” His thumb toggled back

and forth, flicking the tip of her breast.

It ruched beneath his teasing, puckering because she was

so very afraid. Goose bumps rose on her arms, and the fine

hairs on the back of her neck lifted. “Well, what the fuck

are you waiting for?” she gritted out. She jerked against him

again and slammed her heel against his instep, but he quickly

shifted behind her, deflecting her kick so it glanced off the

top of his boot.

“Easy,” he crooned. “I didn’t come here alone. We’re leaving through the kitchen as soon as my men clear our way.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

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“Sure you will. You aren’t at full strength yet. I can easily overcome you. And why fight? You’re only upsetting yourself.”

He forced her forward, butting his knees against the back

of hers so they collapsed beneath her, only to scoot her forward toward the bar. The crowd parted, forming a corridor.

How the hell could she escape when there were so many?

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why are you doing this?”

“Not because I want to, I assure you. I’d much prefer sliding my cock inside you than taking off your head. But this is

necessary.”

Taking off her head?
Her panic increased a hundredfold, and

she bucked against him. To no avail.

The bartender looked up, and just as quickly turned away.

There’d be no help there. No help from anyone in the bar, she

realized as so many of them flashed the tips of their fangs

while they passed.

“But why?”

“This is a revolution. We’re fighting a war. You’re just a

pawn, love. You and the nit growing in your belly.”

“But you’re a vampire,” she gasped, digging in her heels.

“So am I. I don’t know what war you’re talking about.” She

knew she was babbling, but she wanted to stall him long

enough to figure a way out. He shoved her along, her puny

efforts not impeding his momentum one bit.

Where the hell was Chessa?

Rather than struggle, which wasn’t affecting him at all, she

hung limply in his arms and dragged her feet along the floor,

forcing him to carry more of her weight. Slowing him down.